9. Sharing With Bestie

One evening after work, Amanda, Lea’s bestie contacted Lea and invited her to go shopping together.

"What's up? Why are you inviting me? Where's Alvin?" Lea responded curtly.

"Oh... still mad, huh? I'll make it up to you. Let's go shopping this evening, my treat!" Amanda said, feeling guilty for making her friend upset the day before.

Lea remained silent for a moment. She wasn't angry but wanted to tease Amanda to test her patience.

"Can't I buy things for myself? You're mocking me!" Lea protested, sounding offended.

Amanda sighed on the other end.

"Oh, come on, why are you so grumpy? Anyway, I'll pick you up at your house at 6 p.m. Be ready!"

The phone call ended abruptly.

Amanda always knew how to handle Lea's moods. They had been friends for too long to take offense or anything similar. No matter how big their mistakes, they would automatically forgive each other, though usually accompanied by scolding. The most important thing was that they remained friends forever.

Lea lay back on her bed. After work, she had taken a shower, and her routine was to relax on the bed to unwind before talking with her parents.

This time, her parents weren't at home. They had gone to a colleague's wedding, leaving the house locked from the outside as Lea always carried a spare key.

Grace was nowhere to be found either. Lea sent her a message,

[Position?], she typed in the chat app and clicked send.

A few minutes later, after seeing two blue ticks, she received a response from her sister,

[Looking for a date for my sister].

Damn! Lea cursed silently. She quickly replied with an angry emoji and then called her sister directly.

"Hey, come home. Mom and Dad are at a colleague's wedding. I'm going out with Amanda later," she ordered as soon as her sister answered her call.

"Okay, put the key under the bush near the gate, like usual," Grace replied casually. She had group study commitments with her college friends.

"What time are you coming home? Don't be late," Lea warned her sister. Grace had a habit of staying out late, ignoring the time.

"No, sis. I'll come home right after finishing the assignment. But I don't know when it will be done." Grace then switched the call to a video call and showed her surroundings, where her groupmates were busy working on their tasks. It seemed they were at one of Grace's friend's houses.

Lea was convinced that her sister was working on a group assignment and hung up, blaming her negative thoughts for suspecting Grace might be on another date with Freddie.

At 6 p.m., Lea was dressed and had her small clutch ready. She sat on the porch, playing with her phone while waiting for Amanda's pick-up.

Not long after, Amanda's metallic-colored Honda Jazz arrived. Lea hopped out, locking the front door and the gate before hiding the key under the bushes, following the family agreement that if someone hadn't returned home, the spare key should be left outside.

"Good that you're not sulking anymore," Amanda said as Lea entered the car and smiled at her.

"Oh, I forgot I was in sulking mode again," Lea replied, looking regretful.

Amanda laughed, "I told you. You can't sulk for too long with me, hahaha."

"Why is that?" Lea asked incredulously.

"Because if I'm not around, who else would you be friends with, huh?"

"Ugh, annoying!"

Amanda laughed again. She drove quickly toward the nearest mall, where they often spent their afternoons, whether just eating, hanging out, or sometimes watching movies if there was an interesting film.

"Hey, you said you wanted to tell me about yesterday; spill it; I'm listening," Amanda instructed as the atmosphere in the car became quiet. Lea seemed lost in her thoughts, seemingly not hearing Amanda's previous statement.

"Hey! Daydreaming, huh?" Amanda scolded, annoyed, and flicked her fingers before Lea, making her snap out of it.

Lea then recounted her blind date experience with Shane, from Shane being special at the beginning to his arrogant, cold, and extremely irritating behavior.

Amanda was astonished multiple times by Lea's seemingly magical story. She listened while occasionally bursting into laughter when Lea took the opportunity to vent about the man she called the "flat-faced ice-cold guy."

"And you know what, in the end, when we were going home, Freddie just said he's a cop," Lea concluded dramatically.

"Huh? Oh no, so you caused a commotion all night with a handsome police officer? Oh, unlucky twelve in your life. Why didn't you just give in? You'd probably be dating and going out together gracefully by now. You, can't you read the situation?" Amanda blamed Lea for her seemingly annoying behavior in the eyes of a new acquaintance.

"Why are you defending him? It's the same as Grace!" Lea complained.

"Well, you're not good at reading situations, Lea. You shouldn't have mocked him like that. Also, when he complained about your attitude, why didn't you just gracefully try to do what Grace does, so he could see that you're not that arrogant? The important thing is to show him your strengths. But no, you ended up fighting all night with that tap-less cop, sigh!"

Lea hesitated to listen to Amanda's correction of her behavior toward Shane, which seemed wrong from any angle. Damn, she thought later.

Amanda, Grace, and even Freddie all thought Lea was at fault.

"Why should I know his profession? He didn't even introduce himself, and he didn't give me any chance to talk properly. He just kept being annoying all night. Who wouldn't get provoked?" Lea grumbled, trying to explain her behavior.

"Well, you should have taken the initiative to ask about his biodata, hobbies, favorite movies, or any safe questions that could avoid prolonged confrontation. Instead, you discussed both of your absurd behaviors when you became blind date partners!" Amanda commented again, still blaming Lea.

***